Liverpool famously beat Manchester United to the punch for Cody Gakpo just ahead of the January 2023 transfer window, but there’s another Dutchman who the Reds were content to leave off to their arch-rivals.
According to Football Insider, Anfield chiefs had held ‘preliminary conversations’ over a possible move for Matthijs de Ligt early in the summer.
However, when they learned that a rift had developed between the 25-year-old and Virgil van Dijk at Euro 2024 – with the LFC captain accused of influencing the decision to leave his centre-back colleague out of the starting XI in favour of Stefan de Vrij – they duly abandoned their pursuit of the then-Bayern Munich player.
De Ligt would eventually join United in August in a €50m (£42.3m) deal, the second central defender to have gone to Manchester rather than Merseyside over the summer after Leny Yoro.
De Ligt and Van Dijk did play as a centre-back partnership for Netherlands against Germany in midweek, although the United defender ended up being hooked at half-time following an error-strewn performance which even the Oranje captain criticised in public.
While 45 minutes can’t be taken as a definitive sample size as to whether or not two players can develop the desired chemistry with one another, the first half in Amsterdam on Tuesday strongly suggested that the duo wouldn’t be greatly effective as long-term defensive partners.
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If indeed there’s a deep-rooted animosity between them, it was probably for the best that Liverpool ultimately opted out of signing the 25-year-old, even if he would’ve boosted the numbers in a part of the squad where we’re not lacking in quality but are possibly short on depth.
De Ligt’s display against us at Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago didn’t exactly leave Reds fans with many regrets over missing out on him, either, as our rampant attack hammered in three goals and may well have added more during a thoroughly dominant second half.
In time LFC will need to bolster their centre-back ranks, but Van Dijk’s Netherlands teammate seemingly wasn’t the right fit for our current squad. If having him at Anfield would’ve threatened the harmony of the backline, then the hierarchy made the right call to abort the pursuit of him over the summer.
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